Artist: Stu James
Lives: Brunswick, Melbourne & Rosebud, VIC
Age:51
Represented by:Australian Galleries (Melbourne & Sydney)
Her thing.Painting meets sculpture in images of the coastline, its birds and fish.
Our take.Some artists wear a mask of bloodless objectivity, but with Stu James’s work one can feel the keen pleasure derived from the act of making. An immaculate craftsman, James creates realistic-looking fish and birds out of copper, paints them with oils, and arranges them in front of vistas of sea and sky. As if to remind us this is art, and not a window onto the world, he creates elaborate patterned frames which act as an integral part of each piece.
In James’s show, The Narrow Escape, at Australian Galleries, Melbourne, it’s hard to decide whether one is looking at painted sculpture or sculptured painting. In his triptych, The blowhole, for instance, it’s not just the bird sitting on a fence that hints at a third dimension: the textured fence appears to lean out of the frame, while the waves in the background are as solid as wrinkled and folded cloth.
James’s works are secular altarpieces that project a playful reverence for the natural world and our piecemeal interventions – from the wooden steps and fences that seek to tame or frame an unruly seashore, to the boats and fishing tackle by which we link ourselves to the ocean. These are not what might be called ‘cutting edge’ artworks, but for all but the most rigorously avant-garde tastes, they are pretty irresistible.
Can I afford it?James is another remarkably affordable Australian artist. The most expensive work in the show isThe blowhole (56.5cm by 144cm by 11 cm) at $8,500. The cheapest is Pilchard’s seascape (21cm by 32.5cm by 6cm) for $2,000. His all-time record is only $12,500. The modesty of these figures indicates an artist who is more concerned with the work than his bank balance. He obviously needs to be saved from himself.
Where can I have a squiz?
Australian Galleries, 72 Derby Street, Collingwood, Melbourne
25 September – 14 October, 2018. australiangalleries.com.au
Published in The Good Weekend, Sydney Morning Herald, 29 September, 2018